The Gadget Tree

Sure, the iPod is the undisputed king of MP3 players, but are things about to change? I managed to purchase a Zune HD the moment they went on sale and as a former iPod touch owner I'm going to give you the skinny on what they're really like to own. So, who is the ultimate PMP?

Follow up:

The iPod Touch

Capacitive touchscreen, accelerometer, Gazillions of Apps, what more could you want? Not many other gadgets function as a jukebox, video player, photo album, internet browser, carpenter's level, and so many other things I could write about it all day. This little guy does just about anything you can imagine. Games? Check. Calendar for your appointments? Check. Drag and drop file management? Wait....nope.

Sure, it's the Swiss Army Knife of PMPs, but it has some very serious drawbacks as well, drawbacks that I was not aware of when I purchased it since it was my first iPod. My biggest beef with this thing is the fact that you have to "Sync" it with iTunes in order to transfer media onto it. Look here Apple, when I plug up a flash-based device all I want to be presented with is a directory that has folders labeled "Music", "Video", and "Photos" that I can then drop my music, video, and photos into. Simple eh?

I should also mention that if you decide to grab a few songs off of a friend's computer your iPod will want to "Sync" with his music library, thus deleting everything you've so far put onto the damned thing and replacing it with his music library. This was even a problem at my own house where I use multiple computers on a daily basis. This is simply inexcusable, but wait, it gets better.

The geniuses at Apple also decided that once you put something onto your iPod that if should no longer belong to the realm of mere mortals, it should go off to magical iLand and never return. In case you aren't able to decipher my rantings: Once you put something onto the iPod it never comes back! Ever! Got a song on your iPod that you'd like to share with a friend? Tough, Steve Jobs knows how you want to use your iPod and taking songs back off of it is just plain stupid. So let's say you have a classic iPod, maybe an 80gb model, you have your entire music library on it and your computer's hard drive decides to turn into a smoldering heap of scrap metal. Can you restore your music from your iPod? That's right boys and girls, you have been paying attention, NO, you can't.

So my verdict on this one is an absolutely amazing device reduced to the usefulness of a 5.25" floppy by the "geniuses" at Apple. To create such an amazing device, and ruin in at the last moment, the logic is baffling. It's like unnecessarily wearing a brightly colored condom to have sex with a virgin who's had her tubes tied, sure the whole thing won't feel as good, but hey, your jimmy is a cool color!

The Zune HD

What can I say? This thing is a looker. Even sleeker looking than the iPod touch in my opinion. It's also very light and the build quality seems to be on par with Apple's.

I was waiting outside the door of my local Best Buy when it opened on September 15 (launch date). I rushed in expecting to see a large display with demo units, cardboard standees, brochures, the whole works. Instead I had to snag one of the blue shirts and ask them what the deal was. I told him I was expecting some sort of fanfare and he basically told me "it's just a Zune, nobody cares". What? Nvidia Tegra powered, OLED screen, finally a possible rival to the iPod touch, "Just a Zune."??

Anyway I got him to grab me one from the back and I rushed off to work (yes I was late for work to buy a new gadget). I turned it on and could instantly see that this thing was equipped with a really nice screen. I then thought I'd try the radio but met with a message stating "Please Sync With Your PC" or something like that. What? I have to sync with a computer to listen to radio? I managed to rip through the packaging while in traffic and went into work with the Zune and it's sync cable in my pocket. As soon as I had a spare moment I plugged it into the iMac that I use for editing and started patiently at the desktop, waiting for a new drive icon to appear. About 2 minutes into it I realized that something was wrong so I opened up the Disc Utility to see if it's not formatted or something. It doesn't even show up in there. So I open Firefox and type in "Zune on Mac". Needless to say the results did not please me. Apparently you cannot use a Zune (any of them) with a Mac at all. What's better is there is no Linux support either. Now at home I have a Mac, a Windows machine, and a Linux laptop that I use all of the time, as I stated before I can't have devices that are picky about what OS I'm running. I don't know why, but I figured Microsoft had enough common sense to make the Zune appear as a disk, and not need some stupid synching software. I guess I gave Redmond a little too much credit.

So.....the Zune HD might be an amazingly cool device, and I am glad that I was one of the first people to ever buy one, but sadly enough I'm also one of the first few people on the planet to return one as well.

Conclusion

So then, where does that leave us? Which is the ultimate media player? Scroll down to see my conclusion.

The Sansa Fuze!

For a mere $80, pocket change compared to these other two "cool guys" you can walk away with this fantastic little guy. With all of the money you save you can pick up some extra RAM for your laptop, a new router and the Season 4 box set of Mama's Family! Not only will you feel better about the savings but you'll be happy to know that you've got a device that will work on any computer, any operating system, and you don't have to "Sync" the damned thing.

Sure it doesn't have Wifi or a web browser, but if you typically carry a laptop around like I do then it's a moot point. Oh Sansa Fuze, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

- Device mounts like a flash drive. You want music on it? Drag it into the MUSIC folder.

- Album art? Drop a file titled "album_art.jpg" into the album's folder and it shows up automatically

- Need some extra space? No problem. Unlike the other two this one has a slot for a microSD card

- Build quality is excellent, I'd say on par or very close to the other two.

- FM radio, the iPod touch doesn't have that

- Battery life matches or exceeds the other two

- Voice recorder. Check. Those other two jerks are missing this feature.

- Headphones. Yes I know it's trivial, but the included headphones are both more comfortable and sound better than the ones included with the other two.

- You feel like less of a tool. No Apple/Microsoft fanboyism here.

- Plays wonderfully with Windows, Mac OS, Linux, BSD, BeOS, and pretty much everything else out there.

So in short, if you want a media player and not a status symbol save yourself some cash and get one that won't make you want to kick Steve Jobs in the neck or punch Bill Gates in the taint.

--MaxSideburn